To use the Intel Z77 SATA3 6Gbps interface for RAID, connect the drives to the "SATA3_0_1" connectors on the board. They are the middle two SATA stacked ports, meaning the first two red ports looking from the bottom of the board towards the CPU area. The "SATA3_A1_A2" and the "SATA3_A3_A4" ports are provided and controlled by the ASMedia ASM1061 controller. While it's a capable chip, the Intel solution is quicker and supports TRIM correctly.

As for the whole idea of going with RAID0, you will surely notice the speed boost. The risk factor behind it should be low, since SSDs have very low latency (so the RAID controller won't drop them), and the error rate is about on par with enterprise HDDs (meaning 1 unrecoverable error in ~10 000 000 000 000 000 read attempts), so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

For me personally, though, I think it would be too much money to invest right now (dropping $250 for a speed increase from very fast to ludicrous is beyond my wallet thickness).

To use the Intel Z77 SATA3 6Gbps interface for RAID, connect the drives to the "SATA3_0_1" connectors on the board. They are the middle two SATA stacked ports, meaning the first two red ports looking from the bottom of the board towards the CPU area. The "SATA3_A1_A2" and the "SATA3_A3_A4" ports are provided and controlled by the ASMedia ASM1061 controller. While it's a capable chip, the Intel solution is quicker and supports TRIM correctly.

As for the whole idea of going with RAID0, you will surely notice the speed boost. The risk factor behind it should be low, since SSDs have very low latency (so the RAID controller won't drop them), and the error rate is about on par with enterprise HDDs (meaning 1 unrecoverable error in ~10 000 000 000 000 000 read attempts), so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

For me personally, though, I think it would be too much money to invest right now (dropping $250 for a speed increase from very fast to ludicrous is beyond my wallet thickness).

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Excellent, i need to see my manual to actually see those 2 intel sata ports, however i know what you are talking about.

Before w7 starts the installation, i should install the intel raid drivers from an usb correct?

Although if you were getting another drive anyways i would try it for shits and giggles but long term i my self would not bother. Like now i turn the computer on and by time i turned the TV on the dam things waiting for me and that's with much slower SSD's.

1 thing that annoys me with SSD's is that game company's have not realized that you cannot read that hint they post just before the game starts you don't have time to read it.. Fallout 3 and Skyrim i found that issue with and more recently D3.

To be able to install to a RAID volume, you'll need to load the F6 drivers during the first stage of W7 install. After installing Windows, install the chipset drivers (inf package), then RST drivers. As for the rest of the device drivers, their ordering is largely unimportant.

To be able to install to a RAID volume, you'll need to load the F6 drivers during the first stage of W7 install. After installing Windows, install the chipset drivers (inf package), then RST drivers. As for the rest of the device drivers, their ordering is largely unimportant.

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Man, thank you so much, i had no idea about that INF file.

As per the raid, pressing f6 will allow me to install the raid drivers from the usb stick. I have downloaded the latest version from intel website:

To be able to install to a RAID volume, you'll need to load the F6 drivers during the first stage of W7 install. After installing Windows, install the chipset drivers (inf package), then RST drivers. As for the rest of the device drivers, their ordering is largely unimportant.

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Man, thank you so much, i had no idea about that INF file.

As per the raid, pressing f6 will allow me to install the raid drivers from the usb stick. I have downloaded the latest version from intel website:

My BIOS is AHCI and the Marvel Controller Boot Rom is Active, I have tried MSAHCI and Marvel Drivers.

Yet my read speeds using AS SSD are well below the advertised speeds.

Samsung advertise 540MB Read and 520MB Write

I have managed to get it up to 341.96MB Read and 179.03MB Write but can't seem to obtain any higher speeds, Samsung Magitian shows that I have Maximum Performance, that I have AHCI set and that I have the SSD plugged in and using the SATA3 6GBPS port, have I missed something? or is that the best I can expect? if I had known this I would not have purchased the Pro version.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with my Windows 7 boot speed from 1minute 40 seconds to 30 seconds and my Windows Performance has gone from 5.5 to 7.7, my Microsoft FSX Deluxe works better, so everything is an improvement, but I was expecting better speeds than this based on Samsungs advertising.